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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27036055">incredible how you can see right through me</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/em_23/pseuds/em_23'>em_23</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>the kids aren’t alright [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Julie and The Phantoms (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Post 1x9, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 18:08:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,421</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27036055</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/em_23/pseuds/em_23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It had been a shock at first, thinking that he was imagining something out of the corner of his eye when he saw Luke in the hallway at school, or Reggie jammed behind a desk at the back of the room during class, or Alex sitting next to Julie in the cafeteria, the two of them shoulder to shoulder looking down at the phone in her hands. </p><p>or </p><p>After being possessed by Caleb, Nick starts to see ghosts.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>the kids aren’t alright [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1970626</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>173</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>incredible how you can see right through me</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>can you believe that i accidentally deleted this fic???? so mad, it had just reached 100 kudos :(</p><p>- </p><p>title taken from The Invisible Man - Queen.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>Luke</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Nick jumped at the sound of a locker door slamming, his heart racing fast in his ears and his stomach twisting into a knot. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It had only been two days since the dark haze that had blocked him from the outside world had lifted, he wasn’t even sure how it had happened. One moment the entire world had been black and the next he was standing on the stage of The Orpheum, the room empty around him but the smell of sage tainting the air.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wasn’t even sure how he’d managed to explain it to his parents about his absence, the way he hadn’t been himself, he was sure if he had less trusting parents they would have drug tested him or arranged a visit to a psychologist. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He pressed close against his locker, inhaling the musty smell that he associated with dark cramped places, exactly like the darkness had been for those three weeks and tried to get his breathing back under control, trying to stop the onslaught of a panic attack that he could feel building. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nick?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He took another deep inhale before pulling back and closing his locker door, met with the sight of Julie, even if he hadn't been out of breath, he was sure she would have taken his breath away. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey.” He answered, pulling his backpack from his locker and glancing up towards the fluorescent lights above them, blinking away the prickling feeling in his eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You okay?” She questioned, her eyes didn’t seem as bright as they usually did, he wondered if she was okay.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nick nodded, his hold on his backpack tightening, he liked Julie, well, if he was honest it was more than like, but with the darkness cast over the last three weeks of his life, he had no idea if they’d conversed, and if they had, what it had been about. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah.” He answered, swallowing thickly and trying not to fidget, three and a half weeks earlier he would have been trying to impress her, discussing one of her performances with the band or discussing homework with her that he hadn’t really understood but had struggled through, even talking about his terrible dancing, he loved seeing her laugh.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you sure?” She asked again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nick wondered what had happened in those three weeks, if he’d done something to upset her, he wondered if she liked the flowers that he’d brought her the morning after her show at The Orpheum. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah.” He repeated, clearing his throat and looking back at her properly, noticing her gaze was no longer fixed on him, but further down into the school corridor. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nick turned to look where she was looking, pausing for a moment before turning back to look at the singer, “I thought your hologram band were from overseas?” He questioned. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Julie’s attention still wasn’t fully on him, her eyes flickering to the guy who Nick recognised as the guitarist from her band. “They are.” She answered. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Doesn’t look like it.” Nick glanced over his shoulder again, making eye contact with the guitarist who had a grey beanie pulled down over his hair and a blue shirt with no sleeves that showed off his muscular arms. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Julie’s attention snapped back to him, her brow creasing and her mouth opening once before closing, “You can see Luke?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nick glanced towards his locker, he’d rather be hyperventilating into the metal box than be having this conversation with the girl he liked about the guy she clearly had chemistry with. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Should I not be able to?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I, uh, no, of course you should be able to!” She slapped his arm lightly with a smile on her face, making him flinch at the sudden contact. “As long as you’re okay, Nick.” Julie seemed distracted again, distracted enough not to notice his reaction to her touch. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nick nodded, confused about the whole situation, but at least he didn’t feel on the verge of a panic attack anymore. “I’ve got to go, Julie.” He mumbled, flashing her a tight smile and moving past her, only glancing over his shoulder once towards the guitarist, Luke, who’s eyes were fixed on his. </span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p>
<hr/><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <b>Reggie</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Nick had hardly been sleeping, everytime he turned off the lights and closed his eyes all he could feel was that horrible feeling that he was trapped in water, unable to move properly and drowning, he was paranoid if he closed his eyes for too long that the darkness he’d lived in for those three weeks would entangle him again and that’d be it, a fate he imagined that was worse than death. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The lack of sleep was why he wasn’t surprised when he started seeing things, it wasn’t anything major at first, just someone out of the corner of his eye that didn’t quite look like they fit, or the surprise on someones face when they bumped into him in a crowd, like he shouldn’t have been able to touch them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nick had been avoiding crowds since that interaction, he already felt crazy, there was no need to actually succumb to being crazy. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Which is why he wasn’t surprised when he walked into his calculus class that he had with Julie and saw her bassist sitting at the back of the room, fiddling with the sleeves on his red plaid shirt as he looked out the window. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nick blinked and took his usual seat, dropping his books onto the table and wishing that he had a good enough reason to skip out on this class, but within the last four weeks his grades had slipped, which had resulted in the coach from the lacrosse team pulling him aside and telling him to get his grades up or he’d be off the team, ‘the captain has to set a good example’, he’d been told.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He’d finally started to get the hang of the equation that he’d been working on when the humming started, he didn’t recognise the song, but it didn’t sound bad, the only problem was he couldn’t focus, or imagine how anyone else in the room was focusing with the sound. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nick turned in his seat, glancing over his shoulder to look at the bassist and raised an eyebrow, what he thought was a universal look that meant something along the lines of ‘can you stop’. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The humming immediately stopped, but the next thing that distracted Nick from his equation was the feeling of being stared at. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He shivered at the feeling, glancing back over his shoulder and meeting the brunettes gaze again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>This time he’d lent closer on his chair, fingers no longer fidgeting with the fabric of his shirt, his attention fully on Nick. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can you stop?” Nick scowled at him, turning back to the teacher when he heard his name called. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He won’t stop staring at me.” He glanced away from the teacher, back to the desk where the other boy had been only moments earlier, except now the desk was empty. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He gathered his things and got to his feet, the taste of bile settling on the back of his tongue and not saying a word to the teacher as he walked out of the room, trying to get his breathing under control while he walked to the bathroom, tears pricking his eyes as he felt so horrified, what was wrong with him? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He pushed open the bathroom door, dropping his bag on the floor and leaning over the sink, splashing water on his face as he tried to calm himself down. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He gripped the sink tightly as he pulled back enough so he could look at himself in the mirror, eyes red, hair and skin dripping with the water he’d just splashed on himself. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Get your shit together.” He growled at himself in the mirror, unable to look at himself for more than a few moments, he hadn’t felt himself in weeks, he didn’t want to look at himself. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nick flinched at the sound of the bell, wiping his hand over his face, picking up his backpack and moving back into the hall that was starting to fill with other students. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He walked straight towards the doors at the end of the hall, ignoring the gaze of the bassist in a plaid shirt who was standing in the hall outside the classroom as he made a break for outside. </span><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p>
<hr/><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <b>Alex</b>
</p><p>
  <span>His appetite was taking longer than his sleep schedule to revert back to normal. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And that was saying a lot because he was still hardly sleeping, only managing short naps here and there, jolting himself from his sleep if he slept for any longer and waking with a shout. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was glad that he lived in a large house with his family, not wanting his parents or sister to find out that he’d wake in a fit of panic every night, that he was keeping the lights on in his room to try and discourage sleep. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nick pushed around the food that was on his tray in front of him, trying to ignore the loud voices of his buddies that were sitting next to him, jolting him with their shoulders every few moments, the contact making him feel dizzy and unwell, like he was about to pass out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nick lent back, exhaling as he glanced around the room, trying to think of anything that would distract him from the loudness of the cafeteria, from the sea of people who used to be his friends, but not just made him feel uncomfortable. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His eyes settled on Julie, feeling his heartbeat start to rush quieter in his ears at the sight of her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nick glanced back down at his food before frowning, his attention going back to Julie, sitting shoulder to shoulder with a guy he didn’t recognize from school, wearing a pink jumper and a dark hat on backwards, he could faintly see that he was blond, but couldn’t see his face properly.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Drumming his fingers on the table and glancing around the cafeteria, he was tempted to get to his feet and walk over there, sit across from her and ask her about her day, but she’d been distant since he’d ‘returned’ and he wondered if he’d hurt her in those few weeks of darkness. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nick shook his head, leaning closer to one of his friends to get their attention and nodded his head towards the direction of Julie and the blond. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you know who that is?” He questioned. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The guy sitting with Julie.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His friend narrowed his eyes and glanced back to Nick, looking at him like he’d grown a second head, “Julie’s sitting by herself.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nick inhaled, counted a beat in his head and exhaled, his eyes settling back on the pair before he shook his head, forcing a smile, “Yeah, of course, I was just wondering where Flynn was.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His friend seemed to accept that response and nodded, starting a conversation about how great Carrie had looked at the Spirit Assembly this morning, Nick couldn’t recall the Assembly, his mind had been elsewhere. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve got a few things to do before next class.” He got to his feet, grabbing his backpack from the ground under the table and moved away from the table, giving a sideways glance at Julie and the blond as he walked past. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nick recognised him now that he could see him properly, he was the drummer in Julie’s band. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He kept his head down as he walked past them, pulling his phone from his pocket so he had a reason to look down and nowhere else, he didn’t want to look back over at Julie, he didn’t want to lock eyes with the blond sitting next to her, that according to his friend wasn’t even there. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nick walked out of the cafeteria, eyes down and set on his blank phone screen, not looking where he was going before he collided with someone. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He glanced up, not recognising the teen in front of him, with long brown hair and a cracked helmet in one hand and a skateboard in the other. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The skater went to open his mouth, his eyes wide, it was the exact same look he’d been given days earlier when he’d bumped into a woman in a crowd, she’d looked shocked that he could see her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry.” Nick muttered, pushing past him and powering up his phone, sending a text to his parents that he wasn’t feeling well and that he was leaving school early. </span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p>
<hr/><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <b>Julie</b>
</p><p>
  <span>The last time he’d seen her he’d been rushing out of the cafeteria after seeing her drummer that apparently no one else had been able to see. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The time before that had been in calculus, where her bassist had been there one moment and was gone the next. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And the first time he’d seen her after the darkness she’d been surprised that he could see her guitarist. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nick could feel himself unraveling, he felt sickly and weak, useless and crazy. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Which is why he ended up at her house, nine pm on a Friday evening, unsure if she’d even be home he walked down her driveway, glancing over his shoulder with every step, his phone clutched tightly in his hand, moments away from a panic attack, he couldn’t do this anymore. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nick wiped his face with his hand and then brushed his hair back, the scene in front of him turning light instead of dark, the figure of a man in a suit wearing sunglasses standing in front of him, hands suddenly on either side of his neck as everything went dark around him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He blinked, his heart racing, the figure no longer in front of him, no hands on his neck. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He pulled at his hair before taking the final step towards the door, knocking twice, being thankful that it was dark outside so Julie’s dad wouldn’t see how much he looked like a mess. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mr. Molina.” He greeted when the door was opened, clearing his throat, “Is Julie home?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ray nodded, “She’s out the back in the garage, how about you go around?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nick nodded in return, muttering a thanks before he walked around the path that led to the garage, his head feeling light, like he was about to pass out, he pulled open the door to the room, his eyes settling on the four figures in the room, Julie and the Phantoms. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nick stepped inside, unable to stop the tears that were leaving his eyes, running down his face, “Tell me you can see them too, please.” He begged. </span>
</p>
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